Palmer was born and educated in Queensland. He published his first work in English magazines when he was only 17 years old, and two years later he went to London to become a writer, meeting with some success. He returned, however, by way of Finland, Russia, Siberia, and the East and spent several years working at a variety of jobs in the Australian outback. He next took up writing again, traveling to London and the United States, and then served with Australian forces during World War I. From 1922 to 1926 he and his wife, Nettie (née Janet Higgins, also a writer), helped organize the Pioneer Players, a theatrical company in Melbourne specializing in Australian drama.

Of his novels, The Passage (1930), set in the Caloundra area of Queensland, is considered the best. It describes the life of a family and the subtle links between its members and their environment. Golconda (1948) describes the conflict between miners and management in the Mount Isa area of Queensland; it is the first volume of a political trilogy that includes Seedtime (1957) and The Big Fellow (1959). He also wrote several plays on political themes. His short stories have been collected in four volumes: Separate Lives (1931); Sea and Spinifex (1934); Let the Birds Fly (1955); and The Rainbow Bird (1956). He also wrote two volumes of balladlike poetry, of which The Forerunners (1915) is considered the best, and several volumes of essays and literary criticism.

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...pervaded many tales of Outback life and historical novel sagas. An early notable novel of urban life was Louis Stone’s Jonah (1911); a later contributor to this genre was Vance Palmer (especially The Swayne Family, 1934), who, with his wife Nettie, won fame as a literary critic and selfless patron of the aspiring young.